Gemotions

The air conditioning blasted cold air, yet Maria felt a prickle of sweat run down her spine. The words on the screen blurred, then re-formed, each syllable a blow. "No match found for either parent." The photograph she kept on her desk, of her and her parents beaming, now seemed a cruel illusion. She picked it up, her fingers tracing the faces, feeling an alien emptiness where love and familiarity used to reside. She felt a profound sense of being unmoored, as if the ground beneath her had vanished, leaving her suspended in a void. She let out a small sob, a choked sound in the otherwise quiet office.